But what makes me smile every time I write those words, is that the impact of the fields of neuroscientific and psychology research on the place, purpose and practice of music education in the 21st century is as far away from simple as you can get.

Furthermore, research findings in these fields, often so far removed from the actual experience of music education, could have a profound influence on music education, and that influence has the potential to be both positive and negative.Music learning on an instrument has been found to improve language acquisition, memory skills, reading skills, inhibition control, focus, attention span, well-being, motor control, analytical thinking, I could just keep listing areas of development.

That is an attractive list for educators and leaders outside music education and if you ask a music educator if they have observed these benefits they would answer “yes, of course”.

However for some reason it feels that whilst they want to support music programs in their schools, some find that the idea that “music is good for children in its own right” is just not enough justification.

So why is it that scientists have looked at all of these areas instead of at music learning itself?

The answer is that they are using music learning as a tool to understand the structures, functions and development of the human brain. Learning more about music learning isn’t the goal, understanding more about human learning is.

However, this deluge of supportive research and the incredible and much quoted list of the non-musical benefits of music learning may also have a less supportive angle because it seems this is an either/or debate. In this debate, music education is either good for music learning or good for other learning but it can’t be both and just where does the value of music education as an art form sit in this new world of scientific justification?

I am passionately fascinated by the science of music learning. As a music educator I find that I do my most powerful and effective educating when I deeply understand both my craft and my students.

When I went looking for a PhD topic I wanted a topic I would be just as enamoured with at the end as I was at the beginning and I found it in the new(ish) field of neuroscience and music learning.

Since then my focus has expanded to include psychology and neuroscience and as I have come to understand what neuroscientists and psychologists were seeing in the brain development of children through music learning, I found that I better understood both my craft and my students. I also found that my practice was supercharged for learning.

I read and research across the field, not deeply into one specific aspect, keeping a few simple touchstones in mind every time I read;

how does the research support or illuminate something I already know about music learning?

how does the research challenge some of the long held practices or concepts I have had about music learning?

how does this research help me be a better educator?

At present, education is an economic commodity where we feel the need to justify every aspect of it through data and impact (yet the measurement tools themselves may be unable to measure such a complex thing as human development).

However, the very reason that scientists are using music learning as a tool to understand brain development is because it is so complex, integrated and fundamental to us as humans.

What studying music education and the brain for the last eight years has given me is a new perspective on my craft and my students and my field. Learning music is a right of every child, but in the mixed up times we live in have we lost sight of it?It is my belief that the scientific research can help us pull all this back into focus. In my experience a conversation that starts from the “music is just good” place never has a chance so I see brain science as a way to restart the conversation about the value of music learning in two ways.

Firstly we should start where non-musical educators are at, with the non-musical benefits that have a measurable economic impact.

Secondly, once that door is open, it is our job to help non-musical educators walk through it to acknowledge the deeper value of music learning to human development and help non-musical educators to understand the value of music education in itself.

I have had the great privilege of visiting neuroscientists and psychologists in their labs all over the world over the last two years. I am quite the oddity in their world, I come from a place far outside their frame of reference most of the time, with the exception that most of them are accomplished amateur musicians.

Naturally, they all have one or more music educators who have been pivotal in their lives, and helped them become the person they are today. Many of them have said that their research is their way of giving back to that pivotal teacher and to our profession.

For me, I want to make the most of their work to improve my own, by breaking down the either/or approach to understanding the effects and benefits of music for its own sake on music education as a whole.

Dr Anita Collins is an award-winning educator, researcher and writer in the field of brain development and music learning. She is internationally recognized for her unique work in translating the scientific research of neuroscientists and psychologists to the everyday parent, teacher and student. Anita has recently returned from interviewing 90+ researchers in labs across the US, Canada, Europe and Australia so she can share the most up to date research with music educators.

Anita is a prolific and eclectic writer, including a children’s book author, opinion columns for The Age and The Conversation, authored papers for a number of international peer-reviewed journals, specialist technical writer for OECD Education Framework 2030 and authored the script for one of the most watched TED Education films ever made, How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain. Anita is a Churchill Fellow and her TEDxCanberra Talk has been viewed over 100,000 times.Anita is currently writing a short book for expectant and new parents called The Lullaby Effect, based on a highly successful series of podcasts available on iTunes.

Mandy is a Life Member, Association of Music Educators (aMuse), curriculum writer and sessional Lecturer, Deakin University

We will be discussing the topic of music education and wellbeing as one of our weekly online chat topics in the next few weeks. To take part join our Musical Futures chat group here

The notion of wellbeing as a part of music education can be implied in many settings including those schools using the Musical Futures approach. But it is an issue that tends not to be spoken about explicitly, and so I thought I’d have a shot at it. ​We advocate for music education for all sorts of reasons. They can tend to veer away from a focus on the music-maker. I want to reclaim the world of the music maker in education and to provide a reason for that. Firstly, I’m providing a couple of advocacy statements from the perspective of music makers. This year, the members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra have been asked to talk about what music means to them:

"The world is ever rotating and there is little meaning except for music. It’s a novel pursuit in many ways, but for me it sets the standard for everything". Satu Vanska

"Playing music is when I feel most alive. I love the joy of trying to create and communicate this, and the freedom of self-expression". Glenn Christensen

And another statement from the composer and broadcaster, Andrew Ford who presents music from every conceivable genre in his much loved Music Show on Radio National:

"Music ‘lies too deep for words’".

It is the similar experiences with music that we, as educators have, that forge our careers in music education, so that we can share those incredible experiences of music with others.

How might such deep experiences with music happen?

Music is primarily about people’s bodily and mindful relationship with sound. At its most fundamental level it embodies our relationship with the earth, our perception of a gravitational pull to the earth and upwards, sometimes to feelings of ‘transcendence’. It works partially through both heard and felt sound, bodily resonance and through the vestibular (our mapping) network from a basic sense of groundedness to sense of self.

We are therefore drawn to particular music in order to connect with it in whatever way we need (both consciously and subconsciously). This is one way in which music contributes to our wellbeing. There are other forms of connectedness in music.

Aboriginal people all know this. They all live this. Opera singer and composer, Deborah Cheetham says:

"For Indigenous Australians, the Arts are the most powerful way we can know and give meaning to the world around us. For thousands of generations we have passed on all knowledge of geography, the sciences, medicine and humanity through visual and performing arts. The Arts have never been a luxury, rather a necessity. Our culture is our knowledge. Our knowledge is our survival. It is ‘The Art of Belonging’ and it is for everyone".

Music is about a holistic sense of personal identity and connection with family, clan, world neighbours and the planet we inhabit. Individuals and communities large and small need a positive sense of identity in order to be well. These are the reasons for music’s continued ubiquity.

Music Education

If we accept these points, they need to govern our rationale and our practices in music education. As a strong contributor to our sense of self and a means of physical, emotional and mental wellbeing, we must embrace the musical identities of the students we teach, and motivate for their growth and consolidation through exploring familiar, loved, and also unknown musical territories.

I am Musical

Students are the subject. Music is the object. Music exists for people, not the other way around. We teach people. Music is the mode through which we teach them. When we facilitate a connection between students and music, extraordinary things can happen …

But How?Musical Futures employs many of the strategies suggested below:Strategise

Provide open-ended tasks that are unified in some way so that although all outcomes will differ there is a connecting point in musical pursuit. This might be via a theme, a concept, a grand idea, a musical motif or a drum beat.

"To see the music staff and students so engaged absolutely proves how solid your methods are. We are already having conversations and planning our next steps on how to include MF across our curriculum" John, The British School, Jakarta.

Musical Futures International is running a series of 2 day intensive Musical Futures training events in 2018-19.To find out more click here and scroll down to find out a bit more about the content of the workshops and all the resources and ideas you can take away on the day!

"I tried it out on Monday morning with my Grade 9 class; they worked for all class time and into their lunch break on their accord.(This has never happened before). I had never worked so fast on a piece of music before, they had worked out their parts so quickly. It is great that I can apply this so quickly into my classes" Chris, ISS International School, Singapore

Welcome, introduction to Musical Futures:meet the key staff involved in the workshops and get an overview of Musical Futures, what it is, how it works and what the next 2 days have in store! During the event we will explore key components of the Musical Futures approach looking at how we learn to play by ear, what it's like to be thrown in at the deep end and reflecting on how the role of the teacher plays an essential part in the Musical Futures classroom.

Across the 2 days we will explore Just Play, Informal Learning, Classroom Workshopping, Find your Voice, Songwriting and allow plenty of social time for networking, sharing ideas and making new friends!

Just Playis our comprehensive, musical skills-building approach. Experience Just Play from the position of your learners. In jut a few hours we will play guitar, uke, keyboard, bass, vocals, drums and play as a large ensemble. Just play isn't just about building instrumental skills though. It's about unpicking what students need to be able to do to take part in music making. from listening, counting, following, to understanding how to read TAB and find chords and notes, the learning takes place as everyone plays songs that many will know or recognise. A real highlight is our chair drumming session where everyone can be a drummer learning several different beats and playing along to some great music!

​Have a watch of our guide to the Just Play play-alongs that will help students play as a large group and introduce many of the essential holistic musical skills necessary to be part of a whole class ensemble.

Informal Learningis where Musical Futures began. The informal learning model builds on individuals’ existing musical interests, involves learning instruments and vocals mainly by ear, alongside friends, and is authentic and progressive. To get us started is a practical workshop unpicking Lucy Green's Hear, Listen, Play research into how we learn to play by ear. Then into groups to do some informal learning in music and discuss how this works in practice in the classroom starting with the role of the teacher in supporting informal learning.

Groove Your Classroom: models strategies for composing and improvising through classroom workshopping and shows how these can be delivered in practical ways that are both musical and theoretical. We will use classroom percussion to break down commonly used grooves and look at how this can become the basis for building a whole class workshop filled with ideas for modelling approaches to composing and improvising.

​The following video shows how a year 9 class at Doveton College, Australia used Groove Your Classroom as a start point for a student-led whole class workshop.

Threaded throughout the workshops will be some of our bite-size approaches for getting started with songwritingand highlights from ourFind Your Voiceunitwith ideas to build teacher and student confidence with vocal work.

With 8GB of resources to take away, there will be plenty to get you started no matter what age group you work with and during the 2 days, everyone plays everything including guitar, ukulele, keyboard, drums, and more!

Don't forget that all resources will be available free to take away and there will be plenty of social time to network and meet new people.

Ken Owen is a Director of Musical Futures Australia where the rollout of Musical Futures has been supported by the Victorian Government and The Dept of Education and Training.

Working with Musical Futures Australia and the Musical Futures International core teams of teachers and practitioners, he continues to provide teacher professional learning to Australian Educators as well as heading up the development of new approaches and resources for teachers across Australia and beyond.

Anna Gower worked for over 18 years as a classroom music teacher, Advanced Skills Teacher, Head of Department and Head of Community Music linking primary and secondary students and teachers through music projects and events.

As a freelance music education consultant in the UK and in various roles for Musical Futures UK, Anna has supported the work of many organisations including Music Mark, Trinity College London, Little Kids Rock and The BBC as well as working with Music Education Hubs across the UK. She is an experienced presenter, speaker and practical workshop leader, leading presentations, panels, keynotes and workshops at international conferences including OMEA 2014, Niagara Falls, MF2 2014 and The Big Gig 2016, Melbourne, ISME 2016, Glasgow, Music China 2017, Shanghai.

Her work with Musical Futures International has included the delivery of practical workshops and in-school consultancy in Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, UAE, USA, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and more!

Anna's most recent experience has been part of the Academic Team at Trinity College London leading and managing academic pilot projects and providing academic oversight into the development of new products. She now works as a Freelance Music Education Consultant based in London, UK.

It’s a 21st century approach that is whole-class, student centred and project based.

It has since been developed over a more than a decade through the practice of thousands of teachers in over 70 countries.

It’s an approach that emerged from ground-breaking research

​These MF International workshops will introduce teachers to each of the key units of work that comprise the Musical Futures approach from building foundation skills in novice players to inspiring composition, songwriting and improvisation.For more information contact info@musicalfuturesinternational.org